Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

The fifth meeting of Intergovernmental Commission on economy, trade and technical cooperation between Azerbaijan and United Arab Emirates (UAE) was held in Baku on November 17-18.

The meeting discussed current state of relations, works carried out during the past period from the Commission’s 4th meeting and expansion of cooperation prospects.

Co-chairs of Commission were Azerbaijani Economy and Industry Minister Shahin Mustafayev and UAE Minister of Economy Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansoori.

Speaking at the meeting, Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansoori said that Azerbaijan and the UAE can start cooperating in mutual investments.

"A promising area of cooperation between our countries is export of various goods,” he said. “Azerbaijan has rich experience in the development of agriculture, power engineering, and development of alternative and renewable energy sources. That’s why, exchanging of experience in these areas is important. We also want to start cooperating in the field of mutual investments."

He said that the trade turnover between the two countries in 2013 amounted to $565.9 million.

Mustafayev said that discussions are underway on the issue of establishing the Baku-Abu Dhabi and Baku-Dubai Cooperation Committee, as well as a joint business council.

"Azerbaijan and the UAE have very good political and economic relations,” he said. “The previous four meetings of the intergovernmental commission were very fruitful. The promising areas are the cooperation in the fields of power engineering, education, ICT, expansion of trade relations, the development of alternative energy sources, as well as in the field of investments."

Mustafayev said that the two countries formed a necessary regulatory framework for the cooperation development.

The final protocol on cooperation was signed during a meeting on November 18.

During the session Azerbaijan and the UAE reached an agreement on the issue of providing the necessary support and promoting the activities of their business communities, private and public enterprises, as well as professional organizations to establish joint ventures in sectors.

The agreement says that the sides intend to explore the possibility of further cooperation and raising of economic relations to a new level.

The visit to the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic by UAE companies interested in exporting mineral water and natural stone is expected by the document.

UAE companies are also invited to visit the Sumgayit Chemical Industrial Park to explore opportunities for further investments.

Discussion about an issue of the opening of a direct flight Nakhchivan-Dubai is also included in the protocol.Azerbaijan is ready to discuss issues on opening a direct flight between Abu-Dhabi and Baku company “EtihadAirways”.

Earlier in September, EtihadAirway company announced plans to launch direct flights from Abu-Dhabi to Baku as of October 1, 2015. The flights will be carried out four times in a week by AirbusA320.

Since 2009, airline FlyDubai performs the regular flights Dubai-Baku. State airline "Azerbaijan Airlines" also has flights in this direction.

The Azerbaijan State Customs Committee says that the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $50.353 million for the first 10 months of 2014. The majority volume of turnover $46.884 million is accounted for Azerbaijani import.